I want your story…
So where were you on September 11th, 2001? I really want to know. I am fascinated by people’s stories regarding where they were when major historical events took place. I was on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia preparing to teach my 9:00am general education Kinesiology class. The lead instructor was making some announcements and one of my students came in a little late and told me why. She said that she had been glued to the television, watching a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from her. We of course canceled class and we all found the nearest tv to watch it all go down.
That day changed my perspective about a lot of things. I had already been around the world but never would my naivety have brought my thinking to something like that happening. Just a few short days before that, we had held our first home Bible study in Harrisonburg. We quickly realized that our church plant was going to enter into a new realm of importance and we capitalized on it. People were vulnerable and we saw it as an opportunity to spread the name of Jesus even more ferociously. it worked. God built his church. And glory was brought to Him through that horrible tragedy on that fateful day in our little world.
So tell me where you were and how your perspective changed after that.
Yuma Arizona, it was early morning morning and i was getting ready to go to school when my parents showed me on the TV what had happened. My Dad is from the city so they were calling everyone. Really just shocked, then at school it was that quiet shock over everyone. At lunch time me and my men friends all sat together and vowed to join the military and fight for our country, i never had so much patriotism. only one of us eventually did though.
I was in my freshmen 1st period English class at J.W. Mitchell High in New Port Richey, FL when my teacher was told to turn on CNN after the first plan hit the north tower, we watched as the second plan hit the south tower…
I was in English class having a debate about hunting (yeah, weird). The principal announced that two planes had hit the WTC but at that point we thought it was an accident. Then in the next bell, the news about the Pentagon broke and it was basically chaos after that. My school was only 1/2 hour outside DC so tons of people were connected to the city. My dad didn’t work downtown anymore but on that day, he had a meeting only blocks from the Pentagon. I pretty much broke down after that.
Our school library turned into a virtual Red Cross as parents lined up to take their kids out of school. Teachers became errand-boys, collecting students from class when their parents arrived. When my band teacher came to my history class to get me, I was pretty sure my dad was dead. I was convinced of that until I saw my mom in the library and she wasn’t crying. We got my brothers from school; John was in middle school and they had basically shielded the story from them, and James was only in kindergarten or first grade. He still has no memory of the event.
That night, my church held an interfaith gathering with the local mosque and synagogue. It was intense. After that, church attendance skyrocketed for months. Once everything was back to “normal,” it died off again.
How did it change my perspective? Well, it opened my fourteen-year-old eyes to the evil that can be done in this world. It also made me realize how tragedy can unite people in the most unusual ways. Sadly, it also showed me that many people only want God when they’re in despair. Once things are “good” again, God is not a necessary part of their life anymore. Today, I use that to fuel my desire to serve Him. People need to recognize that they need God all the time, in tragedy and in triumph.
Senior year, Government class with Mrs. Marshall. We kept hearing all of this commotion in the hallways. Lion M. kept coming into the class and Mrs. M kept telling him to leave. He finally just said “You might want to turn on the TV” which she did. I remember sitting there next to Roxanne watching and Mrs. M kept saying “Oh my God.” Two of my classmates’ fathers worked in the Pentagon where it was bombed so they were distraught until they heard word that their dads were okay.
here is my story AP
http://209ministries.blogspot.com/2009/09/8-years-ago-today91101.html
I was in class at JMU (freshmen year). I got a message on my pager (that seems so old school huh) that said a plane hit the WTC. I didnt know where that was so I didnt think much of it. I went to grab a snack at Festival and saw people standing around a TV. I went to look and saw the Pentagon… my dad and stepdad both worked there at the time. I tried to make some calls on the campus phone but the lines were down. THEN I got scared. It made me realize what a bubble campus can be. I felt so distanced from reality and I hated it! I couldnt call home – the campus phones were shut down and I didnt have a cell phone (again, old school). It made me realize that we are vulnerable. Now, as a Christian, I can look back and see just how numb I was to death and God – I didnt really care about others or about God or about life. As soon as I found out my family was safe, I wasnt really phased. Talk about a selfish person! Thank you Jesus for rescuing me from me!!!
Just going to Government class. April came into the high school commons area in tears, grabbed my hand, and led me to the closest television.
I was on my way to Richmond for a church planting meeting. When I arrived a bunch of TV monitors were tuned into what was happening. It all transpired during my two hour travel. We left the meeting early. We only moved to Va. from Cali for three weeks. I felt that God had moved us to the East Coast during a very critical time. Nearly everyone I met at James Madison University (two hours from DC, lots of people from NYC/NJ)had some connection to what had happened, a friend or family member worked at the Pentagon or at WTC. When I went out into the community to share my faith…people were so open to accepting Christ.
I was in bed watchin “An Affair to Remember” waiting the few last moments I had before I had to get out of bed to prepare for an interview that was to be at 9 am, CA time. I called Jason, my hubby, on his break to see what he was doing and to my suprise he told me they were listening to the radio, something about an attack in New York. Shocked, I turned my TV to network and watch in horror. I was scared stiff and thought that for sure SoCal would be next since we had LA, Disney, and the power plant in Carlsbad. I called the temp agency and informed them that I would not be leaving my appartment for the interview and the persuaded me to go ahead and go. I have to say that was the most awkward interview I have ever been on, and I was hired on the spot. As I drove home, I saw that the mall parking lot was desserted, and the roads were bare. It was very surreal. That night we attended a service at Saddleback Church. There was such a turn out that they had errected several large tents and telecasted the memorial service to each. Even then, there was standing room only. The parking lot was packed to the seams and yet each driver was selfless and polite, allowing others to take the better spot and to turn when it wasnt their turn. It was bizzare! I remember the message taught by Rick Warren that night was about how God didnt cause this but He allowed it. That was a tough message to hear but I have refered back to it many times in my life. He allows things to transprire in our lives, not for our pain, but for our growth and important lessons. He does it like a parent would spank a child, not for His pleasure, but for His kingdom, in some capacity or another. Each year I am amazed at how an event like that makes such a mark in a life. When else in my life can I look back an d remember a day in such detail, even after all these years? My wedding day is not as vivid as that one, though it is such a treasured day in my life. Thanks Aaron for asking such an important question.
Mr. Downie’s 3rd period Geography class in 8th grade. I had come from gym so we were all confused as to what was happening. Walked into the classroom, every desk was turned twd. the TV and not the board. I sat down and watched it unfold & the playbacks.. I have no idea how long we stayed in that room, but we didn’t move for a long time… I suddenly went from a confident kid at the top of the school, to feeling very-very-very small. My belief of the American bubble was shattered & I felt incredibly vulnerable.
I was a senior in high school. I was in one of my two block scheduled classes, English actually. We were discoursing on literature when my history teacher burst into the room with some unintelligible exclamations. I didn’t know what to think. I was then swept into a crowd as everyone rushed into the history room to crowd around the tv to watch all of the craziness. Eventually I signed myself out and went home to watch it all unfold on the tv in the basement of a very quiet home. I called my family to make sure they were ok and then sat there in the silence, taking it all in. I remember the uneasiness, the fear, the confusion and the anger. A veil was removed from my protected, “Americanized” world. My feelings of “I’m protected within America’s borders” were forever destroyed.